The firm&#39;s West Village Townhouse embraces its original period detailing and proportions.

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Thibault Jeanson

The firm's West Village Townhouse embraces its original period detailing and proportions.

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Verbatim

MADE – Ben Bischoff

“We’re trying to balance residential projects, which work very nicely with our method, and understanding how that method can apply to other project types.”

“We try to partner with the subs. That’s our internal attitude as well—we’ve never been top-heavy.”

“In the future, we certainly would like to continue on with the residential work that we do. I think our process is very well suited to what clients need, whether it’s a ground-up project or inside an existing building. We’re excited to be working more on newer spaces and buildings—it’s a very interesting proposition for us.”

MADE started in 2002 as a bold young design/build company based in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood. Founded by three friends from the Yale School of Architecture—Ben Bischoff, Oliver Freundlich, and Brian Papa—the firm rented space in a converted warehouse and fabricated its own millwork. “In the early stages, it was very hands-on and guerrilla-style,” Bischoff says.

Whole-house renovations now make up the majority of MADE’s commissions, rather than its initial smaller projects. The firm still designs and builds its work, but the “build” aspect is more of a supervisory and management role. “We very quickly realized our limitations as Sheetrockers,” Bischoff explains. “We’re partnering with much more skilled trades.”

Bischoff currently leads the nine-person company, as Freundlich and Papa departed in August 2011. MADE has expanded its original Red Hook studio space, transforming its production shop into a laboratory for testing ideas. Custom residential work remains a primary focus. “We find the kind of attitude and approach we have is well-suited to someone’s home,” Bischoff says. “It’s a very intensive involvement ... how people are going to live and inhabit the space is very important to us.” The company is designing its first all-new residential buildings—a pool house and guest house in Westchester County, N.Y., and a house in Red Hook—as well as its first large-scale commercial project.